Where should I be looking for the output in visual studio? - c

So I am not a programmer but I've decide to learn C and have found a website with great material (https://www.learn-c.org/). As a student I was able to get Visual Studio Enterprise 2017 for free. So as you may understand I'm not well versed in either C, programming, or VS2017. For lesson 1 on this site I must create my own Hello_World program. In VS2017 I opened an empty project and then opened a new file (Test.c). I believe my code is correct, however when I try to run it (Shift + F5) I do not see the "Hello World". A command prompt flickers on my screen for a bit. In a panel labeled "Output" on the bottom of VS 2017 I get this:
1>------ Build started: Project: Project1, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------
1>Test.c
1>Project1.vcxproj -> C:\Users\Fabien\source\repos\Project1\Debug\Project1.exe
========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
So my question is where should I be seeing "Hello, World!" ?
#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
printf("Hello World");
return 0;
}

You program is working correctly but it is executed in a separate window and it is closed immediately after it finishes so you don't get a chance to see the output. You can use a function that halts the program and waits for input, for example getchar like so:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello World");
getchar();
return 0;
}
this way the program will wait for input and then close.

Shift-F5, unless you've reconfigured the default keys, is to stop debugging, so I'm not sure why you think that would help :-)
Pressing F5 on it's own will run your code, but in a mode that means it will simply exit once done, and the output window will disappear. If you need to do it that way, you can simply put a getchar() before exiting.
However, I'm not a big fan of having to change code just for debugging and, in any case, exiting may occur somewhere other than the end of main().
So I find it preferable to simply use Ctrl-F5 to run it in such a way that the IDE itself will leave the window open until you press a key:
<Your program output goes here>
Press any key to continue . . .

Related

Why does this show after running my C program?

So, after running this code in Visual Code:
#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
printf("Hello!");
return 0;
}
I get this in my console:
image
What's up with all that added text?
Because you're running your program under Visual Studio Code's debugger, and for some reason it prints out a bit of job control trash on the console.
Maybe add a newline at the end of your print, to make your output clearer:
printf("Hello!\n");
Alternatively, don't run under the debugger (look for a "Run without debug" option).

How to remove execution related text from output window of Code::Blocks

I am using Code::Blocks for programming in C. When I compile my program and execute it, the output window (i.e.. Windows Command prompt) displays some execution related text, these texts are not of use to me right now and dont want them to appear(see text below).
Hello, World!
Process returned 0 (0x0) execution time : 3.920 s
Press any key to continue.
I tried to change the settings in Code::Blocks but couldn't find any settings related to the output window and also I dont want the text "Press any key to continue" to appear. These texts appear only if I run the program through Code::Blocks and doesn't appear if I directly run the program.
Unfortunately, some things just cannot be changed, and that is one of them. There are some quirks used by some IDE's that just drive programmers crazy, but it can't be helped. There is a reason why it's there: the execution data can be used to find out whether the program worked properly (e.g. ended execution). You can use this data later when targeting execution time as one of the main focuses in coding the project. There may be other uses for it as you code more and more advanced projects.
It only appears when you execute your code from the compiler. It does not need getch() function to stop the screen.
But if you execute its .exe file directly, outside the compiler, you will notice that annoying message 'Process returned 0 (0x0) execution time : 3.920 s' doesn't show anymore. Moreover, you will need getch() function to stop the screen.
you may need to include stdio.h and then call getchar() before return 0
for example;
#include <iostream>
//add this library
#include <stdio.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout<<"I am a C++ programmer! "<<"Awesome!";
//add this line of code
getchar();
return 0;
}

Exiting a C program

I am new to C programming. In my program below, I am simply trying to immediately, exit the C program without see any additional dialog, if the programs receives the input "quit".
I am trying to accomplish this using exit(0); however, before the program exits it outputs something like
success
process exited with return value 0
Press any key to continue...
I am trying to avoid this dialog and exit the program immediately. Is this possible?
I appreciate any help with this.
Many thanks in advance!
My C Code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void) {
char command1[256], command2[256];
printf("# ");
scanf("%s", command1);
if(strcmp(command1,"quit")==0){
printf("success");
exit(0);
}else{
printf("unknown command");
}
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
The message that you see is actually generated by the Visual Studio debugger. It's not really coming from your program.
If you would like to verify that your program is not actually displaying any message (nor waiting for a key press) just try running it from a windows command prompt. You may also try running the program in "Release" mode from withing Visual Studio. That will also confirm this.
The reason the debugger displays that information is just to help you understand what is going on with your program.
Can you post details of your execution environment? Seems like your process is being monitored for an exit code by another application (specialized shell perhaps) which is printing the "Press any key to continue" line
The process exited with return value 0 certainly isn't coming from your code, rather a program in the middle of your input and the output.
I compiled this on the command line (Mac OSX) and was presented with the following output:
James:Desktop iPhone$ gcc code.c
James:Desktop iPhone$ ./a.out
# quit
successJames:Desktop iPhone$
Note that I didn't reach the system("PAUSE"); either
That output doesn't come from YOUR program, it comes from the program that runs your program. Most likely "Visual Studio", but I expect some other types of IDE's may do similar things.
If you are using Dev-C++ and you would like to get rid of the message, do this:
Tools Menu -> Environment Options -> General tab
Then uncheck the Pause Program after return option.
Source: http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/general/89249/

How can I see an the output of my C programs using Dev-C++?

I'm looking to follow along with The C Programming Language (Second Addition) on a machine running Vista.
So far, I've found Dev-C++ the easiest IDE to do this in. However, I still have one problem. Whenever I run my compiled code, for example: a simple hello world program, it runs, but the console window just flickers on the screen, and I can't see the output.
How can I see an the output of my C programs using Dev-C++? I found a C++ specific solution, System("pause"), and a really ugly C solution, while looping fflush(stdout), but nothing nice and pretty.
I put a getchar() at the end of my programs as a simple "pause-method". Depending on your particular details, investigate getchar, getch, or getc
In Windows when a process terminates, the OS closes the associated window. This happens with all programs (and is generally desirable behaviour), but people never cease to be surprised when it happens to the ones they write themselves.
I am being slightly harsh perhaps; many IDE's execute the user's process in a shell as a child process, so that it does not own the window so it won't close when the process terminates. Although this would be trivial, Dev-C++ does not do that.
Be aware that when Dev-C++ was popular, this question appeard at least twice a day on Dev-C++'s own forum on Sourceforge. For that reason the forum has a "Read First" thread that provides a suggested solution amongst solutions to many other common problems. You should read it here.
Note that Dev-C++ is somewhat old and no longer actively maintained. It suffers most significantly from an almost unusable and very limited debugger integration. Traffic on the Dev-C++ forum has been dropping off since the release of VC++ 2005 Express, and is now down to a two or three posts a week rather than the 10 or so a day it had in 2005. All this suggest that you should consider an alternative tool IMO.
Use #include conio.h
Then add getch(); before return 0;
The easiest thing to do is to run your program directly instead of through the IDE. Open a command prompt (Start->Run->Cmd.exe->Enter), cd to the folder where your project is, and run the program from there. That way, when the program exits, the prompt window sticks around and you can read all of the output.
Alternatively, you can also re-direct standard output to a file, but that's probably not what you are going for here.
For Dev-C++, the bits you need to add are:-
At the Beginning
#include <stdlib.h>
And at the point you want it to stop - i.e. before at the end of the program, but before the final }
system("PAUSE");
It will then ask you to "Press any key to continue..."
Add this to your header file #include
and then in the end add this line : getch();
You can open a command prompt (Start -> Run -> cmd, use the cd command to change directories) and call your program from there, or add a getchar() call at the end of the program, which will wait until you press Enter. In Windows, you can also use system("pause"), which will display a "Press enter to continue..." (or something like that) message.
Add a line getchar(); or system("pause"); before your return 0; in main function.
It will work for you.
;
It works...
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
int x,y; // (Or whatever variable you want you can)
your required process syntax type here then;
cout << result
(or your required output result statement); use without space in getchar and other syntax.
getchar();
}
Now you can save your file with .cpp extension and use ctrl + f 9 to compile and then use ctrl + f 10 to execute the program.
It will show you the output window and it will not vanish with a second Until you click enter to close the output window.
i think you should link your project in console mode
just press Ctrl+h and in General tab select console.
When a program is not showing or displaying an output on the screen, using system("pause"); is the solution to it on a Windows profile.
The use of line system("PAUSE") will fix that problem and also include the pre processor directory #include<stdlib.h>.
Well when you are writing a c program and want the output log to stay instead of flickering away you only need to import the stdlib.h header file and type "system("PAUSE");" at the place you want the output screen to halt.Look at the example here.The following simple c program prints the product of 5 and 6 i.e 30 to the output window and halts the output window.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
int a,b,c;
a=5;b=6;
c=a*b;
printf("%d",c);
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
Hope this helped.

Preventing console window from closing on Visual Studio C/C++ Console application

This is a probably an embarasing question as no doubt the answer is blindingly obvious.
I've used Visual Studio for years, but this is the first time I've done any 'Console Application' development.
When I run my application the console window pops up, the program output appears and then the window closes as the application exits.
Is there a way to either keep it open until I have checked the output, or view the results after the window has closed?
If you run without debugging (Ctrl+F5) then by default it prompts your to press return to close the window. If you want to use the debugger, you should put a breakpoint on the last line.
Right click on your project
Properties > Configuration Properties > Linker > System
Select Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE) in SubSystem option or you can just type Console in the text field!
Now try it...it should work
Starting from Visual Studio 2017 (15.9.4) there is an option:
Tools->Options->Debugging->Automatically close the console
The corresponding fragment from the Visual Studio documentation:
Automatically close the console when debugging stops:
Tells Visual Studio to close the console at the end of a debugging session.
Here is a way for C/C++:
#include <stdlib.h>
#ifdef _WIN32
#define WINPAUSE system("pause")
#endif
Put this at the top of your program, and IF it is on a Windows system (#ifdef _WIN32), then it will create a macro called WINPAUSE. Whenever you want your program to pause, call WINPAUSE; and it will pause the program, using the DOS command. For other systems like Unix/Linux, the console should not quit on program exit anyway.
Goto Debug Menu->Press StartWithoutDebugging
If you're using .NET, put Console.ReadLine() before the end of the program.
It will wait for <ENTER>.
try to call getchar() right before main() returns.
(/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE) did not worked for my vs2013 (I already had it).
"run without debugging" is not an options, since I do not want to switch between debugging and seeing output.
I ended with
int main() {
...
#if _DEBUG
LOG_INFO("end, press key to close");
getchar();
#endif // _DEBUG
return 0;
}
Solution used in qtcreator pre 2.6. Now while qt is growing, vs is going other way. As I remember, in vs2008 we did not need such tricks.
just put as your last line of code:
system("pause");
Here's a solution that (1) doesn't require any code changes or breakpoints, and (2) pauses after program termination so that you can see everything that was printed. It will pause after either F5 or Ctrl+F5. The major downside is that on VS2013 Express (as tested), it doesn't load symbols, so debugging is very restricted.
Create a batch file. I called mine runthenpause.bat, with the following contents:
%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
pause
The first line will run whatever command you provide and up to eight arguments. The second line will... pause.
Open the project properties | Configuration properties | Debugging.
Change "Command Arguments" to $(TargetPath) (or whatever is in "Command").
Change "Command" to the full path to runthenpause.bat.
Hit OK.
Now, when you run, runthenpause.bat will launch your application, and after your application has terminated, will pause for you to see the console output.
I will post an update if I figure out how to get the symbols loaded. I tried /Z7 per this but without success.
add “| pause” in command arguments box under debugging section at project properties.
You could run your executable from a command prompt. This way you could see all the output. Or, you could do something like this:
int a = 0;
scanf("%d",&a);
return YOUR_MAIN_CODE;
and this way the window would not close until you enter data for the a variable.
Just press CNTRL + F5 to open it in an external command line window (Visual Studio does not have control over it).
If this doesn't work then add the following to the end of your code:
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit...");
Console.ReadKey();
This wait for you to press a key to close the terminal window once the code has reached the end.
If you want to do this in multiple places, put the above code in a method (e.g. private void Pause()) and call Pause() whenever a program reaches a possible end.
A somewhat better solution:
atexit([] { system("PAUSE"); });
at the beginning of your program.
Pros:
can use std::exit()
can have multiple returns from main
you can run your program under the debugger
IDE independent (+ OS independent if you use the cin.sync(); cin.ignore(); trick instead of system("pause");)
Cons:
have to modify code
won't pause on std::terminate()
will still happen in your program outside of the IDE/debugger session; you can prevent this under Windows using:
extern "C" int __stdcall IsDebuggerPresent(void);
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
if (IsDebuggerPresent())
atexit([] {system("PAUSE"); });
...
}
Either use:
cin.get();
or
system("pause");
Make sure to make either of them at the end of main() function and before the return statement.
You can also use this option
#include <conio.h>
/* run this program using the console pauser or add your own getch, system("pause") or input loop */
int main() {
.
.
.
getch();
return 0;
}
In my case, i experienced this when i created an Empty C++ project on VS 2017 community edition. You will need to set the Subsystem to "Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)" under Configuration Properties.
Go to "View" then select "Property Manager"
Right click on the project/solution and select "Property". This opens a Test property page
Navigate to the linker then select "System"
Click on "SubSystem" and a drop down appears
Choose "Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)"
Apply and save
The next time you run your code with "CTRL +F5", you should see the output.
Sometimes a simple hack that doesnt alter your setup or code can be:
Set a breakpoint with F9, then execute Debug with F5.
Since running it from VS attaches the VS debugger, you can check for an attached debugger:
if (Debugger.IsAttached)
{
Console.WriteLine("Debugger is attached. Press any key to exit.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
I guess the only caveat is that it'll still pause if you attach any other debugger, but that may even be a wanted behavior.
Use Console.ReadLine() at the end of the program. This will keep the window open until you press the Enter key. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.console.readline for details.
Visual Studio 2015, with imports. Because I hate
when code examples don't give the needed imports.
#include <iostream>;
int main()
{
getchar();
return 0;
}
Currently there is no way to do this with apps running in WSL2. However there are two work-arounds:
The debug window retains the contents of the WSL shell window that closed.
The window remains open if your application returns a non-zero return code, so you could return non-zero in debug builds for example.
It should be added that things have changed since then. On Windows 11 (probably 10, I can't check any more) the new Terminal app that now houses the various console, PowerShell and other sessions has its own settings regarding closing. Look for it in Settings > Defaults > Advanced > Profile termination behavior.
If it's set to close when a program exits with zero, then it will close, even if VS is told otherwise.
Go to Setting>Debug>Un-check close on end.

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